Brazilian
owners and workers of a driver's license fraud ring were sentenced
in Detroit, Michigan last Monday after copping a guilty plea to transporting
illegal aliens for the sole purpose of fraudulently obtaining Michigan
driver's licenses, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Fabiano
Caneva, 27; Nelson Domingues, 41; and Fabiano Cesilla, 26, all Brazilian
citizens, were sentenced Monday before US District Judge Victoria
A. Roberts. Caneva was sentenced to 37 months in prison; Domingues
will serve 33 months in prison; and Cesilla was sentenced to 27 months
in prison.

In
addition, Hugo De Souza Faria had already been sentenced in December
to 16 months in prison. Faria has since been deported to Brazil. All
of the defendants will be deported after they serve their prison sentences.

The
federal investigation revealed that from June 2003 to June 24, 2004,
the defendants were involved in an ongoing criminal enterprise where
they transported illegal aliens, primarily from the East Coast of
the United States, to the State of Michigan for the sole purpose of
fraudulently obtaining a Michigan driver's license.

Immigration
and Customs Enforcement agents investigating the case determined that
Caneva and Cesilla produced and sold counterfeit driver's licenses,
birth certificates, and marriage certificates from the following countries:
Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Uruguay and Portugal.

Caneva
resided in Cliffside Park, N.J., at the time of his arrest. Domingues,
of Detroit, Mich., has been a permanent resident in the United States
for 19 years. Caneva and Cesilla both lived in the US illegally.

For
a fee, Fabiano Caneva, Hugo De Souza Faria, Fabiano Cesilla, Cleverson
De Oliveria,and Nelson A. Domingues provided their illegal alien customers
with fraudulent identity documents from foreign countries, which were
then used as documents by each customer when applying for a Michigan
driver's license.

They
also provided their customers with residential addresses in Eastern
Michigan to use on their driver's license applications. As a result
of the fraudulent applications, officially issued Michigan driver's
licenses were mailed to addresses in the Eastern District of Michigan
over which the five-member team had dominion and control. Often, dozens
of licenses would be sent to the SAME address. Once the licenses arrived,
members of the conspiracy took them to their customers who had returned
to the East Coast of the United States.

Caneva
began his involvement in this illegal enterprise in June 2003. At
that time Cleverson De Oliveria was in charge. De Oliveria basically
owned this illegal business. Caneva and Hugo De Souza Faria worked
as drivers for De Oliveria, transporting illegal alien customers to
Eastern Michigan where they would fraudulently obtain their Michigan
driver's licenses. Often, the documents submitted with the license
application were counterfeit foreign identity documents that were
provided by Fabiano Cesilla who utilized his computer skills to make
the fraudulent documents.

On
or about January 2004, Cleverson De Oliveria sold the criminal enterprise
to Fabiano Caneva and Hugo De Souza Faria. Defendant Caneva managed
the illicit proceeds from the operation and kept detailed records.

Caneva
and De Souza Faria continued driving illegal aliens to Michigan where
they personally assisted their customers in completing applications
for Michigan driver's licenses. Fabiano Cesilla continued to provide
counterfeit foreign identity documents to Caneva and Faria, which
he would manufacture on various computers. Domingues continued providing
addresses for customers to use in the scheme.

At
times, Domingues also provided a physical location for manufacturing
the counterfeit foreign identity documents that were used as predicating
documents to obtain the Michigan driver's licenses.

"An
identification document is often the key to establishing a fictitious
identity in order to obtain benefits and facilitate criminal or terrorist
activity," said Brian M. Moskowitz, special agent-in-charge of the
Office of Investigations in Detroit.

"We
will not tolerate the use of fraudulent driver licenses and other
fabricated government documents. We will continue to apply all resources
available to stop individuals from abusing our system."

During
the course of the conspiracy, Caneva, Domingues and Faria agreed to
begin smuggling persons from South America, through Mexico, and into
the United States. Once in the United States, Caneva, Domingues and
Faria planned to bring these new customers to Michigan to obtain a
driver's license.

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In
essence, they sought to provide illegal aliens "one-stop shopping"
for being smuggled into the United States and unlawfully obtaining
a driver's license once here. Domingues traveled to Mexico to make
arrangements to expand the business in this manner.

Jim Kouri, CPP
is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs
of Police. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington
Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the
1980s. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police
and security officers throughout the country.

He writes for
many police and crime magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times,
The Narc Officer, Campus Law Enforcement Journal, and others. He's appeared
as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including
Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book
Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com, Booksamillion.com, and
can be ordered at local bookstores.